The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the left

Friday, May 30, 2008

Much ado about nothing

It appears the world diplomatic corps are hard at work, slaving away diligently to assuage the pained and appease the villainous of the world.

AP: "Chief negotiators of a landmark treaty banning cluster bombs predicted Friday that the United States will never again use the weapons, a critical component of American air and artillery power.

The treaty formally adopted Friday by 111 nations, including many of America's major NATO partners, would outlaw all current designs of cluster munitions and require destruction of stockpiles within eight years. It also opens the possibility that European allies could order U.S. bases located in their countries to remove cluster bombs from their stocks....

The treaty specifies — in what backers immediately dubbed "the American clause" — that members "may engage in military cooperation and operations" with a nation that rejects the treaty and "engages in activities prohibited" by the treaty.

It suggests that a treaty member could call in support from U.S. air power or artillery using cluster munitions, so long as the caller does not "expressly request the use of cluster munitions."

Toothless global initiatives worth nothing. Wonderful stuff.

So whats the reaction of the US & Russia, and likely China, India, Israel, Pakistan and others who abstained from these talks?

"Ivan Oelrich, vice president for strategic security programs at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, said he expected U.S. forces to keep using shells, rockets and bombs that break apart into smaller explosive objects because they have 10 times or more killing power than traditional munitions, particularly against troops in exposed terrain or in foxholes.

Government and military spokesmen in other cluster bomb-defending nations were similarly dismissive of the treaty.

"Russia will not ban cluster bombs and land mines," Lt. Gen. YevgenyBuzhinsky said earlier this week in Moscow. "We stand for evolutionary development of these weapons. Russia's Defense Ministry objects to radical and prohibitive measures of this kind.""

Just keep on truckin.What, would they rather we used tactical nukes?

Or perhaps go the old days, when men fought like men and shot each other 20 feet away in a line with their neighbors? The days where wars took years, and there was no real decisive application of force?No. The world is a far better place when nations such as the US, or even sinister empires such as China or Russia have decidedly potent weapons to swiftly eradicate an enemy from the floor of battle. The US fights for good, and things are much more stable when the powers that be have the ability to stay the powers that be.